It has been a strong start to the 2023 Formula 1 season for Aston Martin, having achieved six podiums in the last ten races. Part of this has been effective use of their aerodynamic testing time, which is now restricted for teams based on their finishing order in the previous season. This gets adjusted midway through the season on June 30th , with Aston Martin now reduced to 256 wind-tunnel runs and 1,600 CFD items - a change of 20%. As they are in a tight battle with Mercedes, Ferrari and now McLaren, Performance Director, Tom McCullough, explained the impact it will have on their ability to stay in that battle. “We obviously knew that was coming. Having seen the strength of the team in the first few races, we knew we were going to lose the wind tunnel time," he told media, including RacingNews365.com . “All teams are always working on the operational efficiency in the wind tunnel and that’s something which we were having to get ready for with the way we mapped, developed, and understand the car. “At the end of the day, it is a hit and you'd want more running, but we’re pretty well prepared for it."
Updates focused on qualifying
Much of the latest developments for the Aston Martin have been focused on their qualifying performance, which is set to be important at the Hungaroring. “We do, historically as a team, focus heavily on race performance,” said McCullough. “But you have to try and qualify well too, and at certain circuits it’s obviously more important than others. "Inherent tyre management, car set-up philosophy, we used to be a little bit too race-focused at times last year. And we sort of consciously tried to balance that out a bit better.”
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